Signed Copies of The Wise Man’s Fear: Part II

A couple weeks ago I took a trip out to New York to meet up with my publisher and do some promotional stuff. I did a video interview. Recorded a podcast. And, as I’ve already mentioned, I got to touch and hold my first-ever copy of The Wise Man’s Fear.

I also signed some books. Kind of a lot of books. Three thousand books.

I’ve signed a lot of books over these last couple of years. But signing The Wise Man’s Fear is a different feeling. The paper feels different, for one thing. Plus, it’s my new baby, and that counts for a lot.

To be honest with you, I thought that I was going to spend most of the day alone in a room, working my way through stacks of books. I was kind of looking forward to it, actually. I’d brought an audiobook to listen to (Jim Butcher’s White Knight) and I was anticipating it being a pleasant, low-key day.

Luckily, the marketing people at Penguin know a lot more than I do. There’s more to signing this many books than just writing my name a bunch of times. The books need to be unpacked from the boxes, flapped (that means turned to the appropriate signing page), stacked, then reboxed.

That means I had a team of 4-5 people working with me all day, getting books ready for me to sign, then taking them away when I was done and re-packing them.

Here’s the team, hard at work. I’m behind the stack of boxes on the right. All you can see of me is my hand, blurring with preternatural speed, and possibly caffeine.

It was actually a lot of fun. We chatted. I told a few Ole and Lena jokes. I might have even sung a song or two. I tend to do that, occasionally.

The team was great. They kept me well-supplied with books and tea and good company for hours. Eventually, I asked if we could take a group photo.

Here’s one where I think I said something really inappropriate to make everyone laugh:

Here’s the one where I told everyone to do crazy eyes.

I totally win at crazy eyes. Nobody does it better than me.

What I learned over the course of the day is that 3000 books is a hell of a lot of books. It took about eight hours to sign them all. I burned through several pens, and for the last couple hours my shoulders actually hurt.

What do three thousand books look like?

Well, if you have twelve books in a box, then it looks like this many books:

Plus this many books: (Note that this stack is two layers deep.)

And then this many more books….

Also, hidden somewhere in these boxes, are a few copies of the book that I had the entire team sign.

You have no idea how hard it was to get some of them to sign their names. They looked so scandalized when I suggested it. My argument is that if you spend eight hours in a room with me, listening to me sing and tell bad jokes, you should get to sign a couple books too. The signing is the fun part, and I’d feel bad hogging all of it myself.

Now the big question. What are all these books for?

Well, ultimately, they’re for you. They’re for people who can’t make it to one of my signings, but who still would like a signed copy of the book.

[Edit: As of Feb 20th, the Signed Page is no longer taking orders for signed books. But many of the bookstores on my signing tour are still more than happy to mail you a copy.]

Now you’ve got another option: At the end of this blog is a list of all the stores that these books will be going to.

Hopefully, one of these stores is close to you, and you can just swing in and reserve yourself a copy.

But even if none of them are close to your house, I’m guessing that a lot of them would love nothing better than to sell you a copy and then mail it off to you.

My advice though? You might want to contact the stores sooner rather than later and place your orders. These are all first-edition books, and I think a lot of people are going to be snatching them up pretty quickly. I know I wish I’d picked up a few more first editions of The Name of the Wind….

Here’s the list of bookstores, organized by state:

I’ve included as much contact information as I have at the moment. Rest assured I’ll be updating it as soon as I have more:

That sounds like a very fun & tiring day! Thank goodness for B&N. I got to the bottom of the list & said, “damn it! Nothing in Pennsylvania!”. I can’t wait until the 1st. The anticipation is driving my ADD out of control!

Quick question. On the website you say you will be at the powells at 1645 Hoyt Street in Portland. The powells website says that you will be at the powells at Cedar Hills Crossing. Can you confirm what place you will be at? Thanks, i want to make sure i go to the right store and dont miss seeing you.

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t cost extra to pre-order it, but I’m also pretty sure they will have a ton of extra copies at the signing, so it’s up to you. Powell’s might appreciate the pre-order though, it would probably help give them a heads-up on how many people plan to come to the signing. (I’ve sent them an e-mail about RSVPing to the event and whether it’s necessary, but I haven’t heard anything back).

Good. Ive been to signing’s at the Cedar Hills powells and they always have TONS of extra signed copies there. Also, if you are going get there early, because 1) its first come first serve and 2) it tends to fill up pretty fast because people in Portland love books and people who write them. Ive seen signings spill out into the mall the Powells is in for popular authors.

I’m ashamed to say my first post is an editorial note. I believe the lone bookstore listed for Georgia was done so mistakenly. I think it is supposed to read “Roseville, CA 95661.” ‘Tis a sad tale full of misery and woe, but alas I am willing to pay shipping. Enjoy your tour.

I am becoming almost unhealthily excited at this point. I may have to buy two copies (one for Mom). If I bring 2 books to the signing in Madison, will you sign them both? Is that a cool thing to do?
Also for the record, the blog has been loading very slowly all day today. Couldn’t get it to work this morning at all.

And a team of pretty girls to boot. XD I think it’s pretty cool you asked the team to sign some of your books, though I’d probably be pretty scandalized if someone asked me to sign something like that! Scandalized in a good way, but scandalized nonetheless.

I got all excited to see that one of the stores getting the signed books is really close to me, and then I remembered I’m going to your signing so it doesn’t matter anyway. :D

Yes, I completely just squeed like a teenaged girl confronted with Justin Beiber. You’re sending some to Bookshop Santa Cruz!!! I had some minor hopes that one would be close enough to mail for cheap, I never had any hopes at all that you would be sending signed copies to the best independent bookseller in the city!!!
You are amazing and I love you. And now I have to e-mail Bookshop Santa Cruz and tell them to hold my signed copy for me! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Hello Mr. Rothfuss,
I sent you a message using the contact form on this website about a week ago…Busy as you are, you probably haven’t read it yet, and it’s perfectly understandable.
Basically, and all rambling put aside, my question was this :
Why is it impossible to pre-order the hardcover version on Amazon.ca (http://tinyurl.com/4c4uumz), while the paperback version is available for pre-order : http://tinyurl.com/4psseqr ?
You see, I’m kind of tight on money right now. I could buy it off Amazon.com, but since I live in Quebec City, Canada, the shipping cost is higher. Like 10-15$ more, if I count the import taxes I will probably be charged. And the transaction will be in US dollars…which means that my bank will take almost 5 bucks for the “conversion” fee. If it was available on Amazon.ca, it would really be amazing, and save me some money !
Thank you very much for your time,
Your faithful fan,
al360ex

Copperfield’s.
When I saw that one on the list I got chills. That’s the only bookstore on the list that I’ve been to and it’s in my boyfriend’s home town no less. Wait, that’s not true I’m sure I’ve been to Anderson Books too. Regardless I got little creeped out.
But I refuse to take advantage of these stores because I’m going to the SF signing/reading. Hopefully the reading too because as of right now I haven’t heard back from the venue. Hope I wasn’t too late to RSVP.

This may be a silly question, but seeing as I’ve never tried to get a signed book –
If I were to order a book off of one of these websites, presumably affiliated with a store that has signed books, how can I know that I’m going to actually get a signed book (as opposed to them just sending me a copy from their storage room, or whatever. i.e. barmes and noble is huge…surely all of their their copies can’t be signed….)

Otherwise I’m guessing you could actually call the bookstore closest to you and pre-order a signed book… but then you’d have to talk to someone (which is something I completely understand not wanting to do).

Thanks for the link. I looked at that a few weeks ago and decided that I was way too broke to spend $60 on a book…shipping to Canada is very expensive apparently. Now they’re sold out and I can’t believe I didn’t buy it. I suck!

Just in case anyone else has been confronted with this whole living in Canada/overseas problem – Barnes and Noble is selling limited edition signed copies of the book online. I just ordered one, and the shipping is very reasonable. I hope it works!

James Marsters does some great work with those Dresden Files audio books, doesn’t he? I am not usually a fan of audio books. I love actually reading, but the Dresden audio books almost make me a convert.

What an awesome, considerate person you are. I was so bummed that I couldn’t make it to a signing, but some of your signed books are coming to a bookstore near me! This is the best birthday ever! Thanks!

While it sounds like fun, I hope you got around to listening to White Night. I absolutely adore every one of the Dresden audio books. (James Marsters’ performance from those books is what made me watch Buffy – not the other way around.)

Have you ever considered trying a fountain pen? I switched over to those about a year ago and not only does my handwriting now have a passing imitation of legibility, my hand also doesn’t hurt after I’ve been writing a lot because I’m not chiseling words in with a ballpoint.

Plus, if you don’t want to fuck around with ink, you can pretty easily find a pen that takes ink cartridges and just swap in a new one when you run out of ink. Or if you do, there are tons of great ones out there to experiment with.

A minor correction… The Almost Perfect Bookstore is apparently located in California, not Georgia. I know this because it appeared to be the closest one to me until I went looking for it on the internet. The same address exists for the same business in California (minus the state part, anyway). This, of course, makes me sad (I live in Georgia).

For the Audio version of Wise Men’s Fear could you please highly suggest they keep the same guy that read The Name of the Wind. I felt the guy did an awesome job and i hate when they switch people in the middle of a series. It’s like when they changed changing the Actors in middle of a series just hurtful and not necessary.

And just to defend myself a little; I also read the book but didn’t have time to re-read it before The Wise Men’s fear came out and downloaded the Audio book so I could listen to it.

I have to agree. Nick Podehl did an amazing job on reading NotW and I sincerely hope he does WMF, I hate it when series’ change narrators between books. To me, that’s just what Kvothe sounds like. And all of the rest of the characters too.
Hell, I’m fond enough of that voice that sometimes I turn on NotW just to listen to while I’m falling asleep because I find the combination of the voice, and the beautiful words, to be a very relaxing and satisfying combination…

I have been trying to find the time in my schedule to attend a signing and just couldn’t get to any of the closest ones on the west coast during the time Pat was going to be there. Then I saw this post on the blog, a tingle of anticipation arose, I quickly scanned down the page to Utah… YES! There it was, I immediately dialed The Kings English and ordered a copy and seriously considered ordering two, but I’m not greedy… much :-) Thanks so much Pat for endangering your valuable extremities for us, your loyal and anticipatory readers.

The Poisoned Pen is in Scottsdale, less than a mile from home. I am so delighted, I ordered it right away. I had originally planned to go to the signing in San Diego, 6 hours away. But it turns out my niece is getting married that day and I am required here. Though a pre-signed Wise Man’s Fear is not as good as seeing our great Rothfussian hero in person, it is some consolation to those of us that must miss the tour. Of course, I have a preordered copy of Wise Man’s Fear for my eReader as well. I should probably get the audio book too, just for thoroughness sake. Plus, I love being read to, and books are so wonderful when read aloud.

Thank you, Pat, and, of course, to all the lovely people at your publisher’s who went to so much effort to help those of us who miss your tour to feel better about missing it.

Diana,
Do you go to The Poisoned Pen often? I just called to reserve my copy, and the lady I spoke to was just so nice and cheerful. I may stop by this weekend to check it out. Bookstores are probably going to disappear fast (my local Borders is being closed), but I hope places like this can carve out a niche and survive.

I <3 the Poisoned Pen and go there frequently! I've been to many signings and the staff has always been so nice! Actually, the last time I was there was last night. They'd been selling t-shirts with classic book covers on the front. (Mine was "Pride & Prejudice"—the funniest was "Moby Dick." Imagine wearing that one. Hee.)

I imagine the Poisoned Pen will survive because they host so many artists coming through town, even though the artists are not necessarily mystery writers. I've seen Stephen Donaldson, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, etc. Plus, they have their own press for local authors. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Sounds like a great bookstore, can’t wait to check it out. I’m on their mailing list now, so hopefully an interesting event will come along soon. I get most of my books on Kindle these days, but will try to support them if they sell history books, which I still prefer to buy in print for maps and pictures.

Good thing you write on a computer, Pat, cuz your handwriting is barbaric. If you wrote longhand, they’d need a linguist to decipher it. In 100 years, someone will find one of your tablets and put it next to the Voynich Manuscript. You are the Eugene O’Neil of Fantasy!

Hey Pat !
Did you know that WordPress 3.0.5 was available ? It says, on my profile page, to “Please notify the site administrator” about it. So that’s what I just did…
Have a great day !
P.S.: I’ve made one comment earlier this day, and it says “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” Why is that ? Is it because you hate me ? Oh…now I feel so rejected ! :) Hey, I’m just kidding…take all your time, you work hard enough as it is.

Brilliant! I wanted a first edition (and I hope I get one signed by the whole staff). I think at about 500 I would have given it up and started using autopen… Good on your part to keep signing despite the strain on your signing arm. Are you by any chance ambidextrous?

I just purchased my signed first edition with additional $5.00 to the Baby Ducks funds.
DUCKS!

Now to withstand the temptation to buy myself a ‘readable’ copy so my signed first edition won’t get as dog-eared and dropped on the floor/nudged by the cats as my first edition (Shirtless redhaired man) of Name of the Wind.

AWESOME!!! man, I have been looking for a way to make it to one of the signings, but the nearest one is 14 hours away. at least now I can get a signed copy of the book :-) the day it comes out. Thank Mr. Pat :-)

Do you have something against Minnesota and don’t want your books there just because your from Wisconsin? You’re not event doing a signing there, I’m gonna have to fly to one of the other places to go to one. Just mildly curious.

All of this is amazing, indeed, I think all of us fans appreciate and cheer the great work Pat does, (so first, congratulations again on the new book!). But I’ve been trying time and time again to reserve or pre order or however possible t get ahold of a signed book, it has proven impossible. Before you say anything, The Signed Page has the Same problem as the Tinker’s Pack for me, it, in principle accepts non US cards as a means of paying, but in practice it rejects them (I’ve tried eight different cards so far). Henceforth my question (and desperate cry for help)?

Does anyone knows a way to/place/webpage/voodoo shack where I might get one? That is, one that ships to Mexico. Has anyone not in the US (someone in Mexico would be better) has been able to get one?

Sorry for the lame questions and irrational addict -like worry about this, but I really want one.
All help is deeply appreciated.
Cheers!

Is there any way to get a signed copy to the Netherlands? As far as I know we can only get one here for insanely high prices, and as much as I love your book, a hundred euro’s just seems a bit out of proportion to me (;

How about some love for MN? No signing tour stop, no stores with signed books. 16th largest metropolitan area in the nation less than 200 miles from your doorstep. At least Florence, Alabama gets some.

Thanks so much for the info! I just reserved my copy in Phoenix! If that wasnt availble I would have had to get my friend in Houston to stand in line for me like I made my in-laws in Indiana stand in line for the first book. I am a nice person, I dont usually like making people do anything, but its the love of your books sir that makes me such a tyrant!

Whenever I recommend this blog to people, I like to start them on the entry about blurbs. One of the things I love about that particular entry is that it can easily be found by searching on “shitweasel”, which, when I was thinking of that blog entry, was the only specific word to come to mind. And I searched on it, and BING! there it was. So this is a request to be judicious in your use of “shitweasel” henceforth, because it’s nice to be able to find the blurb blog very quickly. (I didn’t put a link to that blog here either, because it’s so fun to search on “shitweasel”. Go ahead, try it.)

Oh My Sweet -Burned God!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D That means the book I ordered has already been through you hands and will soon be on its way to Cancun… I am so happy… It is THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER!!!! Thanks a lot for this opportunity…

This is a bit disjoint from the intention of this post, but I saw you were sending some books to Malaprops in Asheville, NC.

I live in DC now (and am looking forward to seeing you here!) but Asheville is my home town, and Malaprops my home town bookstore. So, I just want to say thanks to whomever arranged for those books to go there. They’ll find good homes.

I also want to let you know that Asheville is a really cool town – it’s sort of got a Madison-of-the-South vibe too it – and Malaprops is across the street from one of the finest chocolate shops in the country, withing walking distance of another as well as half a dozen really top notch restaurants, and is within some fucking gorgeous mountains. Should you be in a position to arrange a stop on a future tour, you would be well received and you’d enjoy your trip. Just saying.

I just needed to let you know that you are utterly amazing and wonderful for sending books here to New Mexico. I called Bookworks this morning to inquire about if they would hold a book for me until I can get there, they had just gotten them yesterday.

It’s not everyday someone thinks of us here, but we love Rothfuss too! All hail our furry Lord!

mmm… to bad… I’ll never get one!
pfff sometimes it sucks to live in Holland…
especially when my second favorit book is coming out!
(in the name of the wind nr 1 till now;) maybe wise man’s fear will beat it!)

mmm i can’t do nothing about it…. only just wait
and thats what i will do wait for this amazing new book! :D

You mention Tattered Cover in Denver for the tour but I haven’t found any tour dates past around the 15th of March and all the dates prior do not include Colorado. When will you be coming to Colorado? Or should I just call them to find out the date.

Also… I’ve always been curious and I’ve never found the correct answer. How is your last name pronounced? Every time I google search I get links for “how is Kvothe prounounced?”. Is it ROTH-foos, or ROTH-fuss, or roth-FOOS, or roth-FUSS, or something entirely different?

For my birthday last week my husband drove me down to Prince Books in VA so that I could buy my signed copy. I specifically requested that if they got a copy that you had the people helping you sign I would love to have that one. Oh and he also bought me two of the t-shirts from the store…
I had an awesome 37th birthday and I do have a wonderful husband!

Saw this post, realized I’m missing the LA signing by one day(traveling to LA for work). Then realized that I could pre-order the book from amazon, and have it delivered to the hotel I’m staying at, and have it for the flight home.

Though, this would have been a good justification to get a kindle I suppose.